LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
Let It Be isn't especially great and White Album has a bunch of tracks I never want to hear, while Revolver/Sgt Pepper/Magical Mystery Tour is absolute perfection. Definitely the psychedelic era.
Random Music Talk CXXVII: Crickets
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lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
It's not an easy choice to make, but The White Album is my #2 of all time by anyone (Ashley you are CANCELLED) so it's not exactly hard either. And keep in mind you're basically getting 4 albums worth of material by choosing post-psychedelic compared to 3 from the earlier period. I guess you could throw in the Yellow Submarine tracks in with the first group but that wouldn't tip the scales for me anyway.
I wouldn't call anything with Your Mother Should Know or Good Morning, Good Morning on it "perfection", but you do you.
Let It Be's shortcomings have more to do with the omissions and the damage done by Phil Spector than the actual song quality. The Naked version is slightly superior, but it ditches the funny recording chatter and little detours like Maggie Mae and Dig It which give some excitement to the original, and the track order (Paul's, I'm guessing) is absolutely terrible. How do you NOT open that album with Two Of Us??
I think we can agree that neither version is "legitimate" in the sense that the first was released over Paul's protests and included tampering with his songs that he didn't approve, and John wasn't alive to put in his 2 cents on Naked. So I feel it's within reason to consider any personal track listing that uses recordings from those sessions.
I've posted mine numerous times, but here it is again:
Two Of Us (w/ "I dig a pygmy..." intro)
One After 909
I Me Mine (Naked version)
Don't Let Me Down
I've Got A Feeling
The Ballad of John and Yoko
The Long and Winding Road (Naked version)
(side break)
Get Back (+ "...hope we passed the audition!")
Dig A Pony
Maggie Mae
Old Brown Shoe
Dig It (extended 2:30 version from bootlegs)
Let It Be
Across the Universe (Naked version)
Now, maybe this doesn't improve it much for you, but IMO both Don't Let Me Down and Ballad of John and Yoko are both stone cold classics and make this album much more substantial in terms of John's presence on it. I also removed Harrison's lame For You Blue and put his more energetic Old Brown Shoe in its place. The track order has a great flow and follows the pattern of giving the opener to one of the big two songwriters and the closer to the other. The Long and Winding Road in its "simpler" form doesn't bear the burden of being the big showstopper and closes out Side 1, whereas Get Back's driving vibe works much better as a Side 2 opener than the album closer like it is on the original.
Now, I'll admit as an album it's still objectively the weakest of all the LPs mentioned here, but I can tell you that I listen to this more often than any other Beatles album aside from The White Album and maybe Past Masters Vol. 2 (which contains the two Lennon additions above).
monkeyskin
Refugee
My first instinct was the psychedelic years, but after further thought I’d have to go with post.
Revolver and Abbey Road cancel each other out in excellence (they and Rubber Soul form my top 3), as do MMT and Let it Be (in that there’s some outstanding music on both but enough meh to push them down my rankings).
So the decider for me is Sgt Pepper’s vs The White Album. That’s an easier choice than I would have though, there’s just too many amazing songs in that messy, sprawling, kitchen sink double album I’d want to keep. Maybe nothing as joyful as Lucy, as monumental as A Day in the Life, and I’d skip Wild Honey Pie every time, but it’s the more fulfilling of the two.
Revolver and Abbey Road cancel each other out in excellence (they and Rubber Soul form my top 3), as do MMT and Let it Be (in that there’s some outstanding music on both but enough meh to push them down my rankings).
So the decider for me is Sgt Pepper’s vs The White Album. That’s an easier choice than I would have though, there’s just too many amazing songs in that messy, sprawling, kitchen sink double album I’d want to keep. Maybe nothing as joyful as Lucy, as monumental as A Day in the Life, and I’d skip Wild Honey Pie every time, but it’s the more fulfilling of the two.
cobl04
45:33
The White Album & Abbey Road are my two fav Beat Offs albums, so easy choice for me.
Laz can get fucked for that opinion about Good Morning Good Morning though. In my top handful from that record.
Laz can get fucked for that opinion about Good Morning Good Morning though. In my top handful from that record.
GirlsAloudFan
Blue Crack Addict
Psychedelic all day for me. Revolver and Sgt Pep are my top 2 Beatles albums these days and have been for at least a few years now. I used to always say Abbey Road in my younger days.
DaveC
Blue Crack Addict
the inclusion of Magical Mystery Tour is what's making this tough for me. If i could swap out MMT for Rubber Soul but still keep Penny Lane/SFF (due to their being single releases before Sgt Pepper) then that late 1965-mid 67 period is the winner for me. Losing AYNIL (phrasing) and Walrus is tough but I'd be fine with it if I never heard the rest of that album again.
i'll take the 68-70 period though if I can't make that trade. Abbey Road and Revolver are just as good as each other, but in general I would much rather listen to the White Album and Let it Be than Sgt Pepper and MMT.
i'll take the 68-70 period though if I can't make that trade. Abbey Road and Revolver are just as good as each other, but in general I would much rather listen to the White Album and Let it Be than Sgt Pepper and MMT.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Rubber Soul doesn’t fit in the psychedelic umbrella so I can understand why it wasn’t included.
iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
Revolver doesn't strike me as particularly psychedelic outside Tomorrow Never Knows. It's certainly no Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
DaveC
Blue Crack Addict
it's a lot closer to the psychedelic stuff than it is to almost everything else that came before it, so i usually consider it to be a part of that chapter. but i get why that's a really debatable inclusion.
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bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
Man, I've TRIED. I can't even make a full-length single disc out of that thing I'd want to listen to.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
The White Album deluxe discs present interesting possibilities. Not Guilty absolutely should have been on there over the likes of Don't Pass Me By and Wild Honey Pie, like wtf. Sour Milk Sea, even in Esher demo form, is still way better than Savoy Truffle.
As far as avant garde songwriting goes, What's the New Mary Jane does more for me than Revolution 9, though I think the latter gets too much hate from unadventurous music listeners.
As far as avant garde songwriting goes, What's the New Mary Jane does more for me than Revolution 9, though I think the latter gets too much hate from unadventurous music listeners.
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lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
See, I just don't get this take. It's the same band, same instruments, same producer. It's not like they made some abrupt left turn sonically or subject matter-wise.
I understand hating some of the songs, but it's such a wide spectrum of genres I can't imagine someone who loves the band not enjoying at least a large percentage of it.
See, I think Don't Pass Me By is kind of charming. It's a harmless little ditty, I love the "saloon" sound of it, and it's not actively annoying like Wild Honey Pie is. But then again, that's so short I just don't let it bother me too much. Plus in the mono version of Don't Pass Me By you can hear the full, extended fiddle outro.
Not Guilty (and I think the version from Anthology 3 is different from and better than the one on the Super Deluxe set) indeed should have replaced Savoy Truffle, which is just dumb on not only a lyrical level, but its sound is so dated, it's like what someone would put on a soundtrack for a scene in a period comedy where the action takes place at some "swinging" party.
I'm a fan of What's the New Mary Jane? as well, but as the saying goes, why can't we have both?
I don't remember if I mentioned it here before (probably), but I made my own custom playlist of The White Album that closes "Disc 1" (Side 3) with Hey Jude, opens Disc 2/Side 3 with Revolution, and sticks Not Guilty in between Birthday and Yer Blues.
Tell me I'm wrong.
I haven't tried adding Mary Jane or Sour Milk Sea yet, but don't think I won't try.
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phanan
Blue Crack Addict
I also have my own Let It Be/Get Back playlist that I listen to more than some of the standard albums. That puts the latter era over the top for me.
Speaking of which, it’s been quiet so far this year, but still hoping that reissue becomes a reality by year end.
Speaking of which, it’s been quiet so far this year, but still hoping that reissue becomes a reality by year end.
bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
I'll give it another listen and report back, but I've tried more than a few times at this point. I don't know, maybe it's just a feeling, but it's always seemed like way more of a John vehicle, and he's not exactly my favorite member of the band at this point in history.
Like The Replacements and Joy Division, I keep trying and it keeps not happening, but I'll do it again so as not to appear pigheaded.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
Don't ever listen to the White Album sober. That's your first mistake. No one over the age of 17 was ever meant to listen to The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill sober.
There are edibles in the fridge. You know what to do.
There are edibles in the fridge. You know what to do.
DaveC
Blue Crack Addict
also, the best headphones you have.
bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
Wouldn't that automatically go against what Laz is saying, though? That this album isn't radically different than Abbey Road?
Also, I mean, "Revolution 9" is already among my favorite tracks on the thing, so I'm not normal anyways.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
One of the last times I smoked, it's been a while now because of the pandemic, I listened to the White Album on the couch with my sennheisers on and that was a great experience. By Dear Prudence I had tears in my eyes like, damn, this is so beautiful.
There's something very open and vulnerable, occasionally childlike about the White Album that doesn't translate the same way to analytical listening like Rubber Soul and Abbey Road do. You have to let your guard down a bit. It's the same way with a lot of the Beach Boys' more experimental music.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
I think it's a very different album from Abbey Road sonically and philosophically.
Abbey Road is the apex of something, a very precise and calculated studio creation that was meant to close out their story. It's an album only the Beatles and George Martin, with Paul cracking the whip, could have made. The White Album is the result of a lot of wandering and self-discovery. It's got a very shambolic and lofi sound (relatively speaking) that proved influential on indie songwriters from then on.
Dear Prudence might be my third favorite Beatles song, after SFF and A Day in the Life. Dear Prudence -> Glass Onion gets me every time, but that they are followed by what is by far my least favorite three-song sequence in their catalogue drives me crazy.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Yep.
This was a good read:
The Accidental Perfection of the Beatles’ White Album
DP is definitely one of my favorites. I just love how "clean" that lead guitar line sounds, Lennon's vocal is fantastic, the drums (supposedly played by Paul?), Paul's bass part is out of this world, and the way it bursts with energy at the end, it makes you feel like you're in India with the whole Maharishi gang around a campfire or something.
Coincidentally, "DP" is also one of Lance's Mom favorites as well.
I also love the second guitar, which is more distorted and provides a nice contrast to that main guitar line, which as you say is so clean. The mix is really nice, with each guitar on a separate channels. I didn’t realize the drums were Paul’s, but they really give the song a nice energy particularly at the end. The song always fills me with a mixture of joy and melancholy.
DaveC
Blue Crack Addict
it was recorded during the period that Ringo quit the band and went on a cruise for two weeks because Paul was being a dick to him about the Back in the USSR beat.
one of my all time favourite Beatles stories is how George covered Ringo's drum kit in flowers to welcome him back.
cobl04
45:33
back in the ussr, dear prudence, glass onion, while my guitar gently weeps, happiness is a warm gun, martha my dear, im so tired, blackbird, rocky racoon, birthday, yer blues, everybody's got something to hide except for me and my monkey, helter skelter, i genuinely fucking love all these songs so much, like 5/5, that's a hell of a lot for one album, and then I absolutely fucking love shit like Bungalow Bill, Ob La Di, Do it in the Road etc as well. one of the very few records where more is more. just has a shitton of super enjoyable songs, from proper songs to absolute dumb shit. i love it.
cobl04
45:33
I find jazz fantastic for music to have on when I need to focus on things. Nubya Garcia's new album is great, even if I don't remember a note of it after listening.
LuckyNumber7
Blue Crack Addict
Not to stomp on this wonderful conversation but I truly cannot adore the Beatles in the same light. To me they’re just... ehhhhh
cobl04
45:33
I must say I'm not unsympathetic to that point of view. Not much shits me more than Beatles stans who shit themselves if anyone dares not think that they're the greatest thing to ever happen in human history. My partner, for instance, who loves music, couldn't give a fucking shit about them and will never listen to them of her own accord. They wouldn't make my top 15 or 20 favourite artists and I don't listen to them often - and I have never listened to any of their records before Rubber Soul and am in no rush to.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
It's totally cool if someone gives the Beatles a try and doesn't like them. Same goes for any other artist. If you took the time to educate yourself about something, I can respect your opinion on it.
I do hate when people butt into conversations about about the Beatles acting like they're special little iconoclasts because they "don't care about the Beatles" as if they're waging war on the canon by being lazy and ignorant. That shit happens all the time with gen Z kids. It's the equivalent to posting "Who?" in a celebrity's RIP thread. Like, I don't think anyone asked for your input here lol
I do hate when people butt into conversations about about the Beatles acting like they're special little iconoclasts because they "don't care about the Beatles" as if they're waging war on the canon by being lazy and ignorant. That shit happens all the time with gen Z kids. It's the equivalent to posting "Who?" in a celebrity's RIP thread. Like, I don't think anyone asked for your input here lol
cobl04
45:33
Haha I suspected that would be the counterpoint, and I agree (even though I've been guilty of it with various things!)
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Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
The very first teaming up of Lennon/McCartney
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